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Mel Giedroyc to star in ‘a modern Round The Horne’

Mel Giedroyc is to star in a new Radio 4 sketch comedy show described as a ‘modern Round The Horne’.

Rumbunch has been created by Justin Edwards, best known for his role as Ben Swain in The Thick Of It, and was successfully piloted in September, under the working title Bun Club.

Now the BBC has commissioned three more episodes, which will air along with the pilot later this year.

Giedroyc, Edwards and Dave Mounfield, from Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show, play a hapless trio of performers trying their best to present an unwieldy array of sketches and musical comedy, aided by a weekly special guest, which was Clare Grogan in the pilot episode.

The new episodes will be recorded in the coming months, at dates to be confirmed.

Radio 4 commissioners said of the pilot: ‘Very funny, it's a sort of modern Round the Horne.’

Edwards, creator of the drunk children's entertainer Jeremy Lion, is no stranger to radio sketch comedy, having written and performed in four series of The Consultants, and three series of The Odd Half Hour. He and Giedroyc also performed together on the CBBC sketch show Sorry I’ve Got No Head.

The show will be produced by Jim North and Nick Walker of Topdog productions, whose recent credits include Mission Improbable, Hobby Bobbies and The Music Teacher, all for Radio 4.

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